Sore ga Seiyuu! (Seiyu's Life!)

Dreaming of becoming a top-tier professional in the fast-paced, competitive world of voice acting, rookie Futaba Ichinose frantically scurries around, searching for auditions and performance sessions. Rubbing elbows with some of the biggest names in the industry, she tries to find her own unique voice and style.

Along the way, she befriends two important allies: Ichigo Moesaki, an aspiring idol who claims to be a princess from another planet, and Rin Kohana, a cheerful child actress who tries her best to balance her career and school at the same time. Together, the girls brave the ups and downs of the entertainment industry—but as for Futaba, whose performance assessment at her agency is just around the corner, her career might be over sooner than expected! Sore ga Seiyuu! is a humorous and sincere celebration of the industry that gives anime its voice.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Sore ga Seiyuu was created by an actual voice actress, who makes a cameo appearance in the anime. A number of other well known Japanese voice acting talent appear in the series under their own names, with each episode featuring one special guest seiyuu.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Sore ga Seiyuu!
Sequel:	Sore ga Seiyuu!: Petit Uchiage

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Ichinose, Futaba

Main

Takahashi, Rie
Japanese

Kohana, Rin

Main

Kouno, Marika
Japanese

Moesaki, Ichigo

Main

Nagaku, Yuki
Japanese

Konno, Aoi

Supporting

Furuki, Nozomi
Japanese

Kugimiya, Rie

Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie
Japanese

Tamura, Yukari

Supporting

Tamura, Yukari
Japanese

Kamiya, Hiroshi

Supporting

Kamiya, Hiroshi
Japanese

Horie, Yui

Supporting

Horie, Yui
Japanese

Shiodome, Hikari

Supporting

Nabatame, Hitomi
Japanese

Sayo

Supporting

Sakura, Ayane
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Miyamoto, Junnosuke

Producer, Planning

Ikehata, Hiroshi

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Motoyama, Satoshi

Sound Director

Iino, Shinya

Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

"Sore ga Seiyuu! (それが声優！)" by Earphones (イヤホンズ) (Marika Kouno, Rie Takahashi, Yuki Nagaku) (eps 1-12)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Anata no Omimi ni Plug In! (あなたのお耳にプラグイン！)" by Earphones (イヤホンズ) (Marika Kouno, Rie Takahashi, Yuki Nagaku) (eps 1-5, 7-11)
	2: "Mimi no Naka e (耳の中へ)" by Earphones (eps 6)
	3: "Hikari no Saki e (光の先へ)" by Earphones (eps 12-13)

More reviews

Reviews

Oct 8, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

Tevron (All reviews)

26 people found this review helpful

Are you chasing a dream?
Futaba, Ichigo, and Rin are chasing their dreams to be Seiyuu, and it’s been an amazing journey. Sore Ga Seiyuu! begins mainly by informing the viewer about how voice acting works and various parts of the industry. If that’s your interest field, it will immediately pull you in. As the story progresses though, the drama and reality overflows out and it becomes beautiful. Futaba is a character that is relatable for anyone struggling to pursue their passions, and her story is both convincing and high caliber.

If you’re interested in characters that actually develop, and interesting plot, and music: Sore Ga read more

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Dec 25, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

Tettsui (All reviews)

14 people found this review helpful

I didn't have high hopes for this anime at first. Like so many other slice of life anime, I assumed it'd be dull and uninteresting. I'm happy to say that I was wrong though.

I really enjoyed learning about the ins and outs of being a seiyuu. The characters were relatable, and I appreciate the fact that the trials and troubles of the characters were realistic.

The art is nothing to write home about, although I appreciate the wide variety of character designs. The music was alright and fit the overall feeling of the show, but I wasn't too impressed with that either.

If you enjoy educational read more

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Oct 11, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

MurasakiAmethyst (All reviews)

9 people found this review helpful

Sore ga Seiyuu! (or Seiyuu's Life), is a series made for people who wants to learn more about how being a voice actor is like, at least in Japan. As someone who got into the seiyuu fandom right before discovering this anime, it came out just about at the perfect time for me. It's a shame that this show is underrated and did not get much attention in the summer season, which is when it was aired, for the reason that there were a lot of other shows that caught viewers' attention.

The story focuses on Futaba, a novice seiyuu that has only two years to prove to her agency that she have the potential to be a long working seiyuu, even years into the future. Being inexperienced, Futaba does not have a lot of confidence in her skills and abilities as a voice actor. However, as she got more and more voice acting jobs, she met many people that she was able to learn from. These people include Ichigo and Rin (who she became close friends with through work throughout the series) Hikari, who always gives advice to Futaba--not sugarcoating what she tells her, as well as professional seiyuus like, Ryouko Shiraishi (the voice of Hayate in Hayate no Gotoku). Despite her flaws, I found Futaba to be a likable character for the reason that she's really realistic. Even though her voice isn't all that unique and/or stands out from others, she's hard working; the fact that she really tries to do all kinds of different voices (a robot, a young female warrior, a soothing narrator, a young boy) transcends being naturally talented. (***Potential spoilers.***) I was really impressed with the audition that she had in one of the earlier episodes--where she imagined herself as a female warrior in order to try and draw out the best voice that she could do to depict the character she was auditioning for. It was interesting to see the image that she had of the female warrior, and how the scenario would look like in her mind. (***Potential spoilers section over.***) If there's any cons about the characters, it would be that the show didn't have any original male seiyuu characters as one of the protagonists--or at least as one of the reoccurring supporting characters. On the plus side, the guest male seiyuus' perspectives and advice for the newer, younger generation of seiyuus was refreshing to see. Also, adding onto that, a pleasant surprise for this series would be that they have actual professional and/or well known seiyuus as guest stars (males and females included). A seiyuu who's likely the most recognizable out of all the guest stars would be Hiroshi Kamiya-san; so if you're a fan of his, his appearance(s) would be something to look forward to.

The three main protagonists were likable, however, my favorite characters from Sore ga Seiyuu!! would probably be Hikari and Konno-san. They were both characters that didn't necessarily get a lot of spotlight, but were likable even with the limited screen time they were given. Konno-san did get a whole episode focused on her; prior to the episode, I didn't know that managers not only work with seiyuu themselves but also production companies. Hikari, on the other hand, did not get a whole episode focused on her, but there was a scene where she gave valuable advice to Futaba that I found to be very memorable and educational. (***Potential spoilers.***) In episode 6, Futaba was low in spirits as she found out that she did not get called back to do the voice of one of the main protagonists for a drama CD she voiced when her career have just started. In response to Futaba, Hikari told her this: "...if the production company changes, or there are budget issues, the cast can often change between the drama CD and the anime. On top of that, they never tell you the changes ahead of time. It's painful, but it's something all seiyuu experience. ...You know, it doesn't matter to the audience if you're depressed, or hurting. No matter what happens, you have to do your work with everything you have. A family member might be in the hospital, or a pet might have died. But because it's work, no one lets that show in their attitude. That's the least a seiyuu can do to prepare for work. I think it would be rude to your fellow seiyuu otherwise. To do what is expected of you under any circumstance. That's what a professional does." Personally, I found this part to be noteworthy as it shows how strong of a person Hikari is, but also how great of a role model she is for Futaba. Futaba needs to realize this, and Hikari didn't hold anything back in what she needs to hear. If it weren't for the fact that Hikari were honest with Futaba, then she likely would not have been able to pick herself up. Sometimes, we all need someone to snap us out of it, to tell us that we have to pick ourselves up because no one else will do it for us. (***Potential spoilers section over.***)

I knew of most of the things that were mentioned about how a seiyuu's job is like, but there were things that the show talked about that I didn't know before--or didn't know much about before; for instance: seiyuus narrate audio books, when they have a role in a game, they tend to have to do a bunch of takes (as much as the sound director wants), and that for a unit to be formed, they need sponsors. However, just because you have a sponsor, it doesn't mean they will take care of everything and anything for you; sometimes, they can only do so much, and the seiyuus themselves have to figure something out--take things into their own hands, if ever needed.

It's unlikely, but I'm really hoping there will be more episodes from this series... Specials and/or OVAs would be nice, and of course, a second season would be more than welcome.

In summary:
- Recommend if you want to learn (more) about seiyuus; if you're even a little interested, it's worth checking out. It shows what goes on behind-the-scenes, such as how animation projects' staff works with voice actors.
- Characters have varied personalities; they aren't epic, flashy characters that might leave lasting impressions like some characters from per say action shows would, but they are still likable in their own ways.
- The art is simple, but fitting for this show; too complex art might be distracting.
- The dialog gets the points across; it's not too heavily focused on explanations, but rather telling through showing.

You're welcome to post a comment on my profile to tell me any feedback and/or critiques you have for my review; any feedback and/or critiques are appreciated.

***

Helpful

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Dec 10, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 6

Willowtry (All reviews)

8 people found this review helpful

In short : A slice of life occuring in the world of seiyuu. To distinct from a show about voice acting. Read farther to understand.

Initial expectations :

A friend suggested this anime to me. Having seen a few episodes, she assumed it was informative about the voice acting job in Japan and as I was curious, I decided to watch it.

In a way, it is indeed informative, but in a very superficial way. Each new pieces of information are brushed over without taking time to actually elaborate and overall, it almost disappears after the first few episodes, only appearing from time to time. Which is read more

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